“Oh, no,” said Theo, grabbing my arms back, so we stood locked with one another. “Ifyou somehow claw back the massive points gap between us, I will be the biggest spoilt brat in the world. I will throw tantrums. I will trash-talk you in the press. And you will put up with all of it with a smile, becauseifyou win, you should have enough goodwill to let me be as much of a spoilt brat as I want to be. And you know why that doesn’t matter? Because I’m going to win.”
The tension between us was almost painful, and his trash-talk was doing unfortunate things to me. I could feel my cock starting to tent in my shorts, and I knew I had to keep Theo locked in place, so as to avoid his eyes on my body until I could get it under control. But then holding him wouldn’t help with the situation. There was only one thing for it.
I made sure I was holding on tight, and then took a sideways step. Right toward the pool.
“No, no-” Theo hardly got any words out before I’d dragged us both into the deep end of the pool. I let go of him as we hit the water, and for a second I was submerged. When I surfaced, Theo was already up and glaring at me. “No fair,” he said. “You have a size advantage.”
“You really did save a mental picture of me naked then,” I laughed.
“You know I meant your height, stupid. Anyway, I saw you earlier from the pool. Didn’t look all that big to me.”
“Maybe you were just too far away,” I leered at him.Fuck, this isn’t helping. I was tenting so hard in my shorts it was painful.
“Maybe…we’ll never know,” said Theo. “But I seem to remember you having a tattoo that proves I’m bigger than you.”
“You have a tattoo thatclaimsit with no evidence,Teodoro. I am happy to give you evidence if you wish.”
I paddled closer to him, feeling daring, but Theo just splashed water in my face and paddled away from me.
“Charming, boy!” I called as Theo got out of the pool with his back to me and grabbed a towel to wrap around his waist.
He turned, but only halfway, to grin back at me. “Quad biking, yeah? I wonder how many bets you’ll be willing to make on the outcome of that race.”
“You’re on,” I grinned. I breathed a sigh of relief as he stepped into my house, even though I knew he would be dripping water on my lovely shiny tiles. It would give me a chance to cool off and deflate without having my eyes drawn to that delectable body.
I submerged my head under the water and held my breath for as long as I could. Having Theo stay with me for a whole week would be the death of me.
“Are you ready?” I asked.
“Born ready,” replied Theo. I grabbed a helmet from the hanger on the wall and handed it to him. As he pulled it over his head and covered his face, I almost lost his smile. But his eyeswere so expressive that I could see he was grinning anyway. I was used to seeing those eyes through the visor of a helmet.
But I wasn’t used to seeing him likethis. In contrast to the usual racing overalls, Theo was decked out in an old t-shirt and a pair of my oldest drawstring shorts, as he had worried about ruining his more expensive pairs.
“I told you, I didn’t pack for racing,” said Theo through the helmet. I looked up and met his eyes, determined not to be embarrassed that he had obviously caught me looking.
“Racing? Who said we would be racing,Teodoro?” I asked, raising one eyebrow in challenge.
“You put me on four wheels and we’re racing,Seb. So what’s the bet this time?”
I tapped the remote and brought the garage down door behind us as he swung one leg over his quad bike and revved the engine. I mounted my quad bike and revved too, aiming to be just that little bit louder. Theo was totally right. Put either of us on four wheels and we were completely insufferable.
“I won’t bet you because I know the land, but follow me. Get a little familiar with where we’re going, and I will consider a bet.”
I buckled my helmet under my chin and slipped the plastic visor down, and kicked at the throttle. I shot off from the paved driveway onto the dry dirt tracks that ran between the olive trees, and I could hear Theo’s engine running close enough behind that I knew he was keeping up. The air was warm but dry, and I knew we were both getting covered in dust. I didn’t care. I had always had a need for speed, ever since the days of go-karting as a kid. And now it earned me more money than I knew what to do with.
Quad biking through my vineyards was nothing like a Moto 1 track. The ground beneath us was bumpy, and the quads got plenty of airtime as we sped through the shadows of the trees. When I knew we were getting close to a clearing, I signalled forTheo to slow down as I slowly lifted my foot off the throttle and drew to a stop.
“What are we stopping for? That was amazing!” Theo’s voice was muffled by his helmet, but I could see the joy in his eyes as he lifted the dusty visor.
I pointed up the hill, to the summit, almost a kilometre away. “See the top, the tree that towers over the others? That’s an elm. I will race you to it if you really want to bet.”
Theo’s eyes crinkled. “And what’s the bet?”
“Whatever you want,” I said.
“That’s no fair, you’ve got to have something in mind.”
“I do. That is exactly the bet. If you win, you can ask anything you want of me. Or vice versa.”
